What Roles Do Stress and Anxiety Play In Reaching Your Weight Loss Goals?
There are practically an infinite number of factors that affect your ability to lose, gain, or maintain weight. Have you ever noticed how two people can eat the same things, put in equal amounts of energy toward calorie expenditure, and still one will lose weight while the other gains? Part of it is the metabolic system they were born with, but there’s also much more that can be going on behind the scenes.
Take stress and anxiety, for instance. There are some people who shed weight drastically when they’re under stress or feeling anxious. Then there are others who seem to not only hold onto weight when they’re stressed but gain some along the way.
If you’re considering the hCG Diet, you’re probably in the group that is tired of feeling unhealthy and worn down due to the effects of stress in your life, and you’re ready to do something about it. Before you begin, here’s what you need to know about how stress and anxiety can affect your weight loss goals.
The Stress Cortisol Connection
When you’re stressed or anxious, your body takes it upon itself to do something to remedy the situation and ensure your survival. On a physiological level, your body doesn’t recognize the difference between being under constant stress of losing your job, or being stressed because you’re worried that a large, predatory animal is going to invade your cave. Stress signals the body’s survival mechanisms – also known as the flight or fight response.
This response causes your body to up its production of a hormone called cortisol. Increased cortisol production is associated with weight gain, sluggish metabolism, and the accumulation of fat around the mid-section – one of the worst places to carry extra weight from a health standpoint.
Stress and Anxiety Can Affect Lifestyle Habits
Stress and anxiety just have a way of creeping in and disrupting your life on many levels. When you’re tense and stressed, some of your daily habits can be easily disrupted, and these changes can affect your weight loss results.
For instance, let’s talk about sleep. How many nights has stress kept your eyes wide open until the wee hours of the morning? Lack of sleep can produce changes in your hormones that can cause you to hold onto weight, but often it’s just the fact that you’re too tired to put the energy into following a weight loss plan or doing any regular physical activity if you haven’t gotten some quality sleep.
You might also be more likely to engage in poor eating habits when you’re stressed or anxious. As many of us know, stress eating is real, and the overindulgence in comfort foods is a sure way to add fast inches to the waistline.
A Holistic Approach to Weight Loss
Stress and anxiety can affect your weight loss results in a negative way. The best approach to losing weight, and keeping it off for the long-term, is to take a holistic approach that addresses not only healing yourself physically but emotionally as well. With attention to your mental health, and a low calorie yet nutritious diet, hCG can compliment and enhance your weight loss results. We invite you to contact HCG Buy Direct to learn more about the hCG Diet and supplements that will help you reach your weight loss goals.